


Milk and Sugar

by Browa123



Series: Beverages and Bonding [2]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Mother-Son Relationship, Not Phantom Planet Compliant, Tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-29 03:35:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17195753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Browa123/pseuds/Browa123
Summary: Maddie Fenton never thought she'd share a cup of tea with the most elusive ghost in Amity Park.Sequel to Triple Chocolate Fudge Milkshake





	Milk and Sugar

When Jack had told Maddie that he'd shared milkshakes with Phantom, she laughed.

Ghosts don't consume milkshakes. That was a fact, irrefutable and proven through many experiments. Ghost cores and physical matter do not mix or intermingle. If the Phantom was consuming physical matter, he wouldn't exist anymore and a good amount of the city would be levelled, just like with the screeching wail that still rings in Maddie ears.

So while Jack went on about his innacurate study of Phantom close range, Maddie didn't have the heart to scold or correct her husband, she started to brew the kettle for tea. It was one of those days giving her a headache, and the smell of tea would ease the pain with a bit of relief medication to soothe the dull pounding. 

Curse that Phantom, and his overly powerful wailing. The very screech still rebounded in her head, how wrong it felt to hear it echoing like it's bad on a way deeper level than surface value, unnerved her. Shed never seen a Ghost scream at its foes like that, harnessed that much of its own power. Power that destroyed an entire street no less, and this was supposed to be Amity Park's mascot?

To top it all off, Jack seemed to be falling under the influence of Phantom. First Jazz, now her husband? How long before that wretched ectoplasmic scum corrupts the rest of her family? Had her sweet Danny already fallen victim? How long until the foul ghost rears its ugly, green, inhuman eyes at her? Like she'd allow it to continue this. After her cup of tea, she'll go out and destroy Phantom herself.

The kettle whines, signalling the water had boiled. Maddie pours her cup of tea, while Jack had gathered an assortment of fudge he wanted to feed to Phantom as an experiment. He was rambling about seeing if he had taste buds and preferences. Maddie didn't have it in her to bog down her excited husband and kill his mood. Let the man have his fun, but shed be on guard to keep him from being another of Phantom's pawns.

Milk and sugar are mixed into her tea, clouding up the once clear liquid. Maddie stirs as the added bits change the color of the drink to a much lighter shade, her spoon a catalyst to mixing the ingredients. Intriguing how the smallest change can make such a large impact on how one perceives something. Maddie sips now that the milk and sugar are to her liking.

Already the calming and familiar scent of the beverage had soothed her nerves a bit. She nursed the cup to let it cool and left it to warm her hands. Jack announced he was going to go find Phantom for his fudge experiment, the door slamming behind him. Maddie shook her head. Really she should follow him to keep him out of trouble, but the pounding headache and soreness in her limbs told her it was fine to stay here. She can shoot Phantom out of the sky after tea...

To say she was startled when Jack walked into the kitchen an hour later, the Phantom himself in tow, was a massive understatement.

The ghost was licking it's lips, moving to wipe off and consume crumbs of fudge along its mouth. The pristine white gloves of the ghost boy were dirtied with bits of fudge and he seemed blissfully unaware of the presence of ghost hunters around him. Jack had his hands on the shoulders of the ghost, covered in crumbs himself. Maddie blinked between the two figures in the doorway, too miffed to go activating any weapons at the moment.

Phantom then belches. Scientifically impossible. Ghosts do not have a stomach or lung capacity. They consume raw ectoplasmic energy that dissolves into their systems and does not require the passage of air. But there Phantom was, eating physical fudge, beltching and being reprimanded by Jack to use his manners. What the hell kind of creature did Jack just lead into their kitchen?!

"Jack, step away from that thing," Maddie commanded, finally finding the muscle memory to whip out the ecto pistol attached to her belt and point it at the thing. Whatever it was, it was no ghost. Ghosts do not consume physical matter. Jack moves in front of Phantom, leaving the conclusion to be that Phantom had cursed her husband. How could he not be? Surely leading it in here and then defending it? Accursed ghost like thing wrapping it's spectral coils into the minds of this town, and her family. Maddie wouldn't stand it.

"Step down Mads, no need to point guns at the poor kid," Jack firmly stated, keeping in a position where she can't hit Phantom without hitting her husband. Jack stood his ground as the ever so brave Phantom cowered in fear under her glare. It was uncharacteristic. Wrong. Just like the rest of what she had witnessed in the past few minutes. This thing was already corrupting her family with its many masks. Jazz, now Jack, her sweet Danny could be next! And she won't be letting that happen, she won't let this monster make pawns if her family!

The ecto pistol whined as it charged, Maddie still trying to find a way around Jack, who refused to stop defending Phantom. He looked back at the thing, muttering something about milkshakes for when this is all over. The ghost thing nodded timidly, fear in it's posture. Seems it hadn't even noticed Maddie until the gun started charging.

"Jack, get away from that thing, it's using you!" Maddie cried, blinking back tears while still trying to get around her husband's frame. The monster behind him continues to cower in a false fear, an act to keep her beloved husband under it's control, it's curse. The same curse that had overshadowed Amity Park for far to long. Phantom wasn't even a Ghost, it was a thing. A monster with ghost like qualities and a human like appearance. An all powerful abomination of some horror, with its control rooted deep and nearly impossible to understand.

"Mads, let's talk about this. You're scaring the poor kid," a softness in Jack's voice made her pause, but she will not be fooled. Phantom is just making him say that, like a good little pawn, trying to drag her into the depths of the Phantasmic Curse.

"No Jack. That abomination has had this town eating out of the palm of its hand far too long. It crossed the line when it took Jazz, nail is in the coffin taking you. This ends now." Her tone is sure and firm, unflinching. Phantom had gone much too far now. Destroying it is a mercy.

"Abomination...?"

The quiet word cut through the noise of the kitchen. Phantom had stopped trembling, but he was no less scared. Even Maddie could see the intense feeling of mortification in those luminescent eyes. Its frame had gone stiff, shuddering ever so lightly was the word rolled off his tongue. Phantom's hands shook more then the rest of its rigid body, before a faintly glowing liquid pooled in his eyes. Tears. Phantom was crying.

Maddie is brought out of her stupor of the fact Phantom was crying when Jack sweeps the kid into a tight hug, letting the luminescent ghost tears run down his orange jumpsuit. "Its ok kid. She didn't mean it, she didn't know any better. You're no freak kid, just special," Jack muttered, in the most consoling tone he can muster. He may not be the best, but not even a kid like Phantom deserved to be called an abomination. Jack leads Phantom passed Maddie and sits him in a chair at the table.

Phantom isn't even looking at her when she sees it. The humanity in the ghost. Sitting at the table with Jack holding him steady made him look like a part of her own family. Maternal instinct found itself overshadowing the rage as she drinks in the idea. Phantom is just a kid. A kid she almost shot, and had insulted by calling it, him a monster. He can't be anywhere over sixteen with his childlike face, soaked in tears and full of genuine misery.

The loss of words hits hard, and Maddie finds herself shuffling her feet with discomfort. Silent sobs fill the kitchen, what had Maddie almost done to that child? Was this the curse? No, it was no curse, it was the truth. The truth that as ghostly powerful as Phantom was, somewhere in there he was ever so impossibly human. That's the idea that struck Jazz, her constant defending of Phantom for years. It's what struck Jack a month ago, him being excited about studying a Ghost that communicate with him and why he was consoling said human ghost in her kitchen right now. The implications are striking.

Before she knows what she's doing, Maddie is across the kitchen, waiting for another batch of tea to brew. She owes Phantom an apology, after all. Of course she doesnt trust him, but he is just a kid in a sense, and there's nothing wrong with giving him tea. It was wrong of her to jump to conclusions like that. She will keep her guard up, but for now she'd roll with the punches. Phantom was a different kind of ghost, somehow.

It'll be interesting to watch a Ghost drink tea, if anything outside an apology.

Maddie places the cup in front of Phantom, earning a teary eyed yet puzzled look from the ghost like kid. She then pours him a cup of Earl Grey tea. She stopped using a blood blossom brew after Danny started having allergic reactions to the flower, so it's entirely safe for Phantom to drink. There's a mutter of gratitude from the ghost boy as he reaches for the milk and sugar, half heartedly stirring the ingredients into his tea.

Wasn't Jack going on about testing to see if Phantom had prefences an hour ago? Yes, yes he was. And to see Phantom stirring things into his tea to taste proved he had a method of flavor distinguishing. Working taste buds, useless for the average ghost. But here Phantom was, blowing a small amount of frost over his drink to cool it. Temperature differentiating too? Intriguing. Maddie gets herself a cup of tea and sits across from Jack and Phantom.

"Can you believe it, Mads? Here we are, on the precipice of a whole new branch of ectobiology! We've just discovered a new species of ghost no doubt!" He ruffled Phantom's snow white hair, the kid seeming to be in a better mood after some apology tea. A new species of ghost... when there's an entire dimension of them, is more than one kind too much of a stretch? Of course not, after all a Ghost that defied all normal ghost convention was seated right in front of her.

"Thanks for the tea, M-Maddie..." Phantom muttered nervously. He takes another sip of his cup, keeping guarded himself should any more hostility arise. Phantom was more ready to flee than to fight though, was it common for a Ghost of this kind to avoid humans? What of others in this strange new species? So many questions...

"Now then kid, we were talking about some of your abilities. Control over ice and plasma, essentially light energy. You're made of tougher stuff than most ghosts too, eating physical matter and being able to use internal organs. Can you tell me about the scream attack you used that one time?" Jack, ever so eager that Phantom perked up, began the questioning first. Phantom chuckled, before adopting a thinking pose.

"My Ghostly Wail? It's one of my more complicated attacks. Purely offensive, I think is the term..." He begins, before putting a hand to his chest. "Strictly last resort, for sure. It's really really dangerous and destructive, and sometimes I can't help but feel a bit in pain when I use it... like I'm dying all over again...." he'd gone quiet after he muttered the words clutching his left arm to his chest. It then struck Maddie what was so wrong about that attack.

"That wail.... could it be a replication... of your dying screams?"

Phantom clearly had memory of how he died. The way he clutched his arm, holding it tightly like it was about to fall off. Ghosts are born in the event of a sudden, violent and painful demise. Would building an attack based on that moment be that powerful? Indeed. An attack that embodied the very nature of the end of a life. And it was the dying scream of a child.

Maddie felt her ears ring again, there was just something more wrong buried under this realization. Of course, the implications were awful and truly heart wrenching, but the sound of Phantom screaming specifically continued to stir through her head. She should recognise that scream, the voice behind the pain, but she just can't. No one in her family is dead, certainly not in a way that would cause this screaming agony. She would have heard it...

Silence persists as teas are finished, Phantom standing to leave. The ghost boy looked a bit jarred from the events today. Maddie felt the same. So much had just happened in such short time. There needed to be time, to think and breathe, to stew on these events and clear the waters. Phantom smiles lightly, heading for the front door.

"Hey Phantom! Next we meet, I'll introduce you to my son! I'm sure he'd love to meet a real life superhero!" Jack calls after him, giving Phantom pause. Emerald eyes bore into the two as he turns back to look at them, a sly smile on his face. The ghost boy chuckles, relaxing a bit before speaking.

"I've already met him."

And then he vanished.


End file.
